Age of the Sages: The Axial Age in Asia and the Near East

by Mark W. Muesse

Overview

By setting traditions and thinkers such as Zoroaster, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Gautama Buddha, Confucius, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle side by side, we are able to see more clearly the questions with which they struggled, their similarities and differences, and how their ideas have influenced religious thought down to our day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781451438611
Publisher:	Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
Publication date:	08/01/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	466 KB

About the Author

Mark W. Muesse is W. J. Millard Professor in Religious Studies at Rhodes College, Memphis, Tenn. He directs the Asian Studies program, is a long-time Teaching Company lecturer, and is the author of The Hindu Traditions (Fortress, 2011).

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Acknowledgements xv

Timeline xvii

Introduction: What Was the Axial Age? 1

Part I West Asia

1 The Noble Ones 9

2 The Life of Zoroaster 21

3 Zoroaster's Legacy 27

Part II South Asia

4 South Asia before the Axial Age 39

5 The Start of the Indian Axial Age 49

6 Death and Rebirth 59

7 The Quest for Liberation 67

8 The Vedantic Solution 75

9 The One and the Many 85

10 The Life of Siddhattha Gotama 97

11 "I Am Awake" 107

12 Why We Suffer 115

13 The Noble Path 123

14 From Buddha to Buddhism 133

15 Jainism 143

Part III East Asia

16 East Asia before the Axial Age 155

17 The World of Confucius 165

18 The Foundations of Confucianism 175

19 The Cultivation of Virtue 185

20 Early Confucianism and the Rise of Daoism 193

21 The Daodejing 203

22 Daoist Politics and Mysticism 213

Conclusion: Reflections on the Axial Age 223

Glossary 233

Bibliography 253

Index 261